illegal gold mining is rampant in Kalimantan. It is a threat to the environment and health risks for indigenous peoples. It also costs millions of the nation.
Thursday, May 22, at noon, the police chief Bulungan Assistant Commissioner Eka Wahyudianta, with 90 officers took an hour of town Sekatak Buji Road in North Kalimantan, the more young province in Indonesia. When he arrived, he saw about 100 illegal miners working hard to extract gold from a pit.
"Some of them ran away [when they saw us] and 30 of them were arrested. After screening, eight had evidence that were immediately taken to the precinct police station," said Wahyudianta the local newspaper.
The raids like the one he describes are common on Kalimantan. The island largely non-polished part is known for its widespread illegal gold mining activities, which are also often referred to as "savage mining".
"Kalimantan is one of the oldest artisanal and small-scale Gold Mining (ASGM) hotspots. The operations were performed on the island for centuries since the time of Dutch colonization," says YuyunIsmawati, an environmental engineer Goldman Prize-winning and Senior advisor to the local environmental NGO BaliFokus. "as a result, some gold mining site abandoned in Kalimantan are well known as moon face areas, and can be seen from above using . Maps clearly. "
ASGM refers to gold mining informal performed using low technology and poor quality machines. According to the Indonesian Forum for the environment West Kalimantan chapter Director Anton P. Widjaya, illegal mining is particularly prevalent in the regencies of Bengkayang, Landak, Ketapang, Sintang and Kapuas Hulu in West Kalimantan.
the miners mix mercury in water and squat all day to extract gold in ASGM hotspots abandoned. Photo by BaliFokus
Aside from the lack of technology, many people in Kalimantan resort to illegal gold mining due to its almost impossible to get permits from the local government.
"In reality, these permits could only be achieved by large companies with large investments, while existing small scale mines, including those in regions with deposits of high minerals, not having the ability to obtain permits, "says Widjaya.
Ismawati echoed his statement, saying that even if a minor small scale owns the land, he or she would still be subject to mining offenses illegal, according to the development plan and the allocation established by the local government. to extract gold, you must obtain a legal permit from local government agencies, which in this case is the Agency for mineral and coal at the Regency, according Ismawati.
"and then obtain the environmental permit from the environment Agency in the form of a paper EIA (environmental impact assessment), management and environmental monitoring plans. The license for mining of small-scale gold IPR ( Izin Penambang Rakyat ) to permit mining community, should be allocated within the WPR ( Wilayah Pertambangan Rakyat ) or the mining area of ​​the community, "said Ismawati.
Some regencies had already issued the WPR for the extraction of gold, but without supporting regulatory framework, Ismawati notes, adding that they still have a lot of work if they want to provide an appropriate regulatory framework for the ASGM activities.
"The illegal mining practices appears to be maintained by powerful institutions and agents to their advantage. Corrupt officials, thugs, working with financial - some of them are foreign investors, some are local and Indonesian businesspeople. Some miners also act as subcontractors for large-scale mining companies, "says Ismawati.
illegal mining activities also occur in four provinces of Kalimantan. According to a study by the Borneo Research Bulletin in 2012, there were about 43,000 small gold miners in Central Kalimantan. Together, they produced 13.3 tonnes of gold in 2008, worth about $ 292 million based on the conversion of the Currency.
This money is only a fraction of the US $ 6.1 billion estimated to lose each year due to illegal gold mining activities that have spread throughout the archipelago in recent years, according to the energy and mineral resources Ministry. The department came to this conclusion after learning the volume of domestic gold production was 66 tonnes per year, while the estimated amount of gold extracted illegally could reach up to 130 tons per year.
Ismawati also highlights the economic impacts of the mining of illegal gold mining in Kalimantan. According BaliFokus, it was estimated that each miner could produce 5 to 10 grams of gold per week. The ASGM sector could produce about 65 to 130 tonnes of gold per year, higher than the national gold production, which was 46 tonnes in 2013.
"The thing is that, After the formal sector, all the gold produced from this sector should be sold to the Indonesian Central Bank. the bank should see this opportunity to increase national gold reserves and partly sell it on the market, "said Ismawati .
Apart from the economic impact, mining of gold have also caused widespread pollution and environmental destruction, such as mercury is often used to leach gold from ore.
All artisans and small-scale gold miners extract gold using mercury. Mercury remains behind and contaminate the environment and the food chain. Photo by BaliFokus
A joint study entitled Global Mercury Project by the Global Environment Facility and the United Nations found that mercury in fish in central Kalimantan around a ASGM site ranged from 0.09 up to 1.6 parts per million (ppm). This, and several studies conducted in the 1990s and early 2000s, found high concentrations of mercury in rivers, soil and fish all across Indonesia, including Java and Sulawesi. Studies have also concluded that the presence of mercury in affected negatively affect the health of miners and surrounding communities.
A study of BaliFokus in several hotspots ASGM found mercury in the air also considerably higher, ranging from 20 nano-grams per cubic meter up to 55,000. He also found mercury in the food chain, namely in rice and fish, risking the health of the community downstream POPULATION nearby. The mercury in water and sediments in several ASGM sites ranged from 0.6 ppm to 4 ppm, which is 600 to 3,000 times higher than what the World Health Organization considers safe.
Mercury can cause direct or indirect poisoning, according to the personal sensibility and sensitivity.
Most diseases that occur due to mercury poisoning are illnesses linked to a neural deficit. If mercury was deposited in the body of a pregnant woman, the fetus is at risk of birth defects and malformations. If a child is exposed to mercury at birth, it can lead to neural strain later in life. This deformation is progressive and increases with the child's age.
Neural deformity can also affect adults who have direct contact with mercury, particularly those who consume food or water that has been contaminated. One of the worst things about mercury-related diseases is that - with the exception of certain disorders of the skin on people who are hypersensitive - some may take 10 years before clinical symptoms appear the same, and will inevitably worsen over time. High blood pressure, upper lung disease, heart disease and stroke, nervous system disorders, skin diseases, and digestive problems are the top five mercury-related illnesses.
According Widjaya, the risk that people poisoned by mercury is extremely high in places where illegal gold mines is endemic. This is clearly due to irresponsible mining practices. "In landmines, illegal miners create holes and tunnels and they use mercury. The same happens in rivers and streams.
In the results [ sic ], all residues will flow in rivers that people are still dependent livelihoods, "he said. it is common to see the streams of the river in Kalimantan with traces of gold mines with the water muddy and brown.
Unfortunately, the local health centers often failed to involve extreme or severe cases of these diseases with mercury exposure from gold mining and extraction activities said Ismawati. "health services are not available on site, and it might take more than three hours to get to the nearest health centers ...
in addition, in the case of mercury poisoning, local health workers do not understand the symptoms, and consider the disease a strange disease and tell them to go home. On the way back, some of them die helplessly, "she explains.
Unlicensed mining also often leads to accidents and deaths." The main problem is that these mines are controlled by local financial and ordinary people only serve the workers ... safety aspects is thrown out the window, causing accidents, "said Widjaya.
in January, a mine illegal gold in Boma cave in the Bengkayang's West Kalimantan collapsed, killing eight people. another illegal gold mine collapsed in the Bengkayang district in october last year, killing 18 workers.
"It there is no official data on the number of miners die in mine sites, but the leaders of illegal mining groups would know well because they have to send the body [of their workers] to return to the villages and send money condolences to the families of victims, "speculating Ismawati.
In the future, Widjaya argued that the repression of illegal mining activities would not be effective without the government educate its people. "So far, the approach [to tackle this problem] Only by police raids. This strategy results in the resistance of the miners because it is their livelihood," he said.
Therefore, the former deputy environment minister Masnellyarti Hilman proposed that regional governments should provide technical assistance and allows illegal miners who meet the requirements, then ban the use of mercury in extraction of gold. Such a ban could come into force in 2018, according to the Minamata Convention.
"It would be better for regional governments to legalize the activity. In addition to obtaining revenue from gold mining, the government will not be burdened by the costs to restore the old mines," she said The Jakarta Post .
According Ismawati, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has issued a National Action Plan to eliminate mercury in ASGM and improve the ASGM sector in Indonesia as mandated by the Minamata Convention on mercury.
The Ministry of Commerce also issued a Regulation of the Minister (No.75 / 2014) to ban mercury imports, trade and use in the gold mining activities. "Several local governments have also already issued relevant regulations, but implementation is still far," says Ismawati.